Heat applied transfers include a variety of indicia with inks, material layers, and adhesives that become bonded to material layers, for example, apparel such as shirts, jackets, or the like, upon pressurized contact and heating of the transfers and apparel between press platens. New developments in the construction and composition of lettering have resulted in high quality transfers that can be accurately and quickly transferred to the apparel without bleeding or partial interruptions in the bonding of the transfer, as long as the presses can be operated at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time and at a predetermined pressure. Nevertheless, heat applied transfer presses must be simple, manually operated devices in order to satisfy the user's need to economically but quickly apply various lettering, symbols and numbering indicia selected by a customer and which must be applied to a selected piece of apparel. Such an apparatus must accommodate many variations in the arrangement of transfers and apparel, as well as the types of transfers and apparel materials available.
The accuracy and precision of the temperature, the pressure and the time duration for which these parameters are applied to the transfers are particularly important to complete an efficient bonding of the transfers to materials. In particular, depending upon materials and the structure of the indicia to be applied to the apparel, indicia may be subject to inconsistent application conditions throughout the surface of apparel to which the transfer is applied. For example, excessive temperature may cause the ink or adhesive to bleed into the apparel material so that the indicia becomes discolored or a blend of different colors thus changing the original appearance of the indicia intended to be applied. Likewise, the application of excessive pressure may cause bleeding of the colors while insufficient pressure between the platen pressing surfaces may result in blotched or unattached areas where the indicia failed to adhere completely to the garment. Additionally, some indicia or apparel may require pre-curing at lower or higher temperatures or pressures or some combination of temperatures and pressures.
Although some means are known to provide improved image results on various substrates, they tend to be difficult to use, time consuming and labor intensive. As in most businesses, since the applying, forming, fixing, etc. of images on substrates is becoming more competitive, it is becoming increasingly more important to be able to form high quality images on various substrates, using different processes, in a more efficient, more controlled, inexpensive, less-time consuming manner.
Thermal or heat transfer presses are known for applying graphic images on textiles or other similar substrates, or to press foil onto a substrate. However, when used to form high definition graphic images, this process tends to be very slow, time consuming and difficult to use, and overall, too expensive. Therefore, there exists a need in the art to provide an improved and automated device for forming better resolution in graphic images, thereby providing high definition images on various substrates. For example, a device that forms a smoother surface on a substrate will provide better print resolution and a smoother feel to a printed garment.